A week after the brutal police shootings that snatched away the lives of 13 civilians in Thoothukudi during the anti-Sterlite agitations, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police has announced that the cases have been transferred to the CB-CID.
However, the FIR which registered 86 cases against the protesters makes no mention of the police firings.
The sections included in the FIR are 147 (rioting), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons ), 436 (Mischief by fire or explosive substance), 307 (attempt to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation). In addition to this, protesters have been booked under the TN Public Property Act and the Explosive Substances Act.
According to the FIR filed by the Deputy Tahsildar, the protesters allegedly announced their intention to harm the men in uniform and were exhibiting the 'rage to kill'. "We warned the protesters that if they didn't disperse and continued the violent activity, we would have to shoot them. But they were increasingly becoming a threat to public life and property," he continues.
Following this, the deputy Tahsildar claims that a bullet was fired into the air as warning. "But none of this had an effect. The group continued to be violent. Being patient after this would have resulted in great damage to public life and property. So I ordered for guns to be used to disperse the crowd," he admits.
According to a report in The Hindu, the Madras High Court issued notice to the CBI on a PIL seeking a probe by the agency into the police shootings.
This plea explicitly deals with the police shootings that police officers were involved in, in an attempt to avoid a conflict if interest during investigation.